I felt that we had a strong discussion during the extended period on Thursday. There were several main points that stuck out to me, and I was also able to draw some similarities to 1984. One of the topics that most stood out to me from Kristen Gardner’s article was the idea that our history here in America is being narrowed down to a white history. She mentions that with the teachings of WWII teachers should include “how African Americans fought for desegregation of the military; and how Mexican Americans created the G.I. Forum to ensure veterans benefits after their discharge from service.” These points are sometimes overlooked because they are not thought of as important. I remember a statement that somebody made during the first discussion group that was something along the lines of “Aren’t whites becoming the minority here in America? Therefore, shouldn’t we include the important history created by the minorities of those times?” I thought this was a good thought, and whether or not whites are becoming the minorities, I still feel that it is important for teachers to include teachings about the minorities and the impact that they had on our American history. America is made up of a mixture of races and cultures so it is important to include these minority voices in our past. America’s identity is based on unique customs collected from the different groups that have moved and settled here.
Another issue that was discussed was the importance of learning from our mistakes. If history was rewritten to make America look like a perfect nation then we would be in danger of recreating the past and making the same mistakes that have already hurt us. Based on this idea, I was able to contrast our history and the history in 1984. In Oceania, the government’s goal was to make it appear as if Big Brother was always right and make its citizens feel that they were a perfect nation. However, here in America, we pride on learning from our mistakes and bettering our future. We do this by recording our mistakes so we do not end up creating the same problems that have already plagued us. The Oceania government would be unable to learn from their mistakes because they are continually covering up their faults.
I liked the way you articulated and presented your thoughts during the discussion. The part where you included the importance of including minority history in textbooks appealed to me as well. I think it is as important as any other part of history, especially because most important events were headed by highly motivated groups of people that worked toward a relatively abstract goal. Another point that I like in your reflection is about how we can learn from our mistakes. This also comes from a likable comparison to 1984. We can learn from our mistakes because we record them all.
ReplyDeleteMatt, great point about the WWII issue. There we’re a lot of minorities that help fight for the US and we need to remember them. If they cut this out of the history books the families of these soldiers would feel robbed of the honor of serving their country. It would be an injustice not to pay tribute to the men who lost their lives for their country. You also make a point about learning from our past mistakes. If none of our mistakes or recorded or cut out then we will never know if we can prevent the same mistake or if we’ll do it again. Our leaders might know if we had made the mistake before but, how can the people know about it. If information was changed then our society would be that of 1984’s totalitarian government. It would be no different because of the fact that our history is being altered for us to look good.
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